The Juvenile Drug Court Advisory Committee met at the Holiday Inn in Fargo on April 16, 2004. In the absence of Justice Maring, the meeting was called to order by Peter Welte. The minutes of September 19, 2003, were approved.

Representative Ron Carlisle from Bismarck has agreed to join the advisory committee.

Heather James reported for the Grand Forks Juvenile Drug Court. They currently have nine participants. Six participants have graduated since the last meeting, and two participants have been terminated. Assistant States Attorneys Nancy Yon and Dale Rivard, have joined the Grand Forks team. If a participant is dismissed from school, the participant will be sanctioned with community service. The community service hours will be completed from 9 am - 12 pm
Monday through Friday each week until the participant is enrolled and attending school again. Drug court will consider reducing these hours if the participant obtains a job.

Kris Haycraft reported for the Fargo team. Judge Wade Webb has been appointed as the new drug court judge. They currently have five participants and will staff three more juveniles next week. Kris Haycraft will oversee the gardening project with the participants for the summer.

Representative Carlisle asked if it would be beneficial to the courts if they were able to have someone speak on meth. He stated that inmates from the New England Women’s Department of Correction Facility spoke to a lawmaker committee this past week and that they were very open about their struggles with drugs and the way it has effected their lives. Birch
Burdick also stated that he had seen a slide show of a meth user before she started using and after she had been using the drug. Discussion was then held on whether exposing the participants to this type of presentation would be effective. The teams would discuss this further. Peter Welte
attended a presentation by Mike Ness on Meth 101 and expressed that he felt this presentation should be done in each court, if possible.

Brad Peterson reported for the Bismarck team. Judge Sonna Anderson has joined the team. Judge Bruce Romanick is still the primary judge. They currently have nine participants. The participants completed the CPR certification presented by the Red Cross. Brad asked if the team felt that a presentation from the inmates from the Department of Correction facility in New England would benefit their female participants. Kevin Thompson did not have any studies on
how females react to that type of presentation. Bismarck is seeing a rise in the abuse of mushrooms with their participants. Testing for mushrooms can only be done by hair and is very expensive.

Kevin Thompson distributed the latest Statistical Summary of North Dakota Juvenile Drug Court, May 2000 to March 31, 2004. Discussion followed on the report. He will complete a recidivism report by mid June. They will be tracking the old comparison group for this report. The committee also discussed the drug test/alcohol screen information which indicates that 86
percent of the participant’s drug tests are negative and 14 percent are positive. The nationwide rate for juveniles who are not participating in a drug court was reported to be 35 percent. The committee discussed our tracking procedures and testing and whether we are doing everything to
screen for adulteration. Steve Mottinger stated that funding needs to be added for more tracking.

Peter Welte gave a report on his visit to the juvenile drug court in Missoula, Montana. There are no more than 25 participants in their program at one time. Interactive video is used for the rural participants on court day. They do not have post graduation follow-up. Detention is part of their probation and is used sparingly. In Missoula’s program, each participant is given a
Roadmap when they begin, and this Roadmap is followed throughout their program. It is a plan for their process through the program, and it is referred to in court so that they understand where they are and what they need to do to progress to the next phase of their program. Acupuncture is used in their program along with many other therapies. They have six weeks of acupuncture,
three times a week. They believe in the holistic approach. Stress Therapy is a very big part of their program.

Parents are held accountable to the drug court contract. Winter writing workshops are held before participants are allowed to graduate. They do use more than one treatment provider but only by the approval of the judge. Missoula requires their participants to read Many Roads -
One Journey. Their participants spend one year in their program. Peter sensed a unity between the court and their participants. He recommended that if any team members have a chance, they should visit Missoula’s court. He also recommended that we get Judge Larson to visit the North
Dakota Juvenile Drug Courts. Discussion on the relationship with the judge and participant was found to be extremely important to the participants. Peter Welte stated the Missoula drug court’s judge felt that was a key factor to their program.

May is National Drug Court Month. Each court will handle their own activities and contact local legislators to come and visit their court proceedings. Marilyn Moe will invite our Congressmen and Governor Hoeven to the court proceedings.

The Strategic Planning Committee report was given. Ron Schneider reported for the training plan (attachment 1). The training committee will meet at Lake Metigoshe to discuss the deadlines of their plan.